ised
her. She broke into such real weeping that it was impossible not to be
moved by it.

Forgetting her policy of silence, Elizabeth argued and explained. Talking
to her mother, but keeping her eyes glued on Aunt Susan's, she went into
details about the difficulty at home.

"You know pa 'll find some excuse to strike me as soon as I get there,"
she concluded. She had a painful sense of weakness and inadequacy in the
presence of her mother's determination. Her own worries seemed so trivial
in the presence of her mother's sorrow.

"E won't, I tell you," Mrs. Farnshaw repeated for the twentieth time.
"E'll let you alone if you do th' right thing. We love our children--if
th' neighbours don't think so," she wailed.

As she talked, however, she kept a shrewd eye on her daughter and soon saw
that Elizabeth's eyes turned to those of Aunt Susan. It was not enough for
this Hornby woman to be neutral; Mrs. Farnshaw decided to enlist her.

"If you had a girl you'd want 'er t' be married in your own house, I
know," she said, leaning forward eagerly. "Suppose you only had th'
one----" She saw the quick tears gathering. "Did you ever have a little
girl?" she asked.

Susan Hornby's emotions mastered her. She made no attempt to reply.

"Then tell 'er t' come home for just two more days," she said quickly. "I
don't ask for no more than that. Just long enough to put an end t' this
talk. I don't never 'spect t' have 'er after that, but----"

She sprang to her feet and, crossing the room, dragged Elizabeth to her
feet also.

"I've got t' have you, Lizzie, an' that's all th' is about it!" They
looked at each other a long time. Elizabeth weakened.

What could the girl do? Against her instincts, against her better
judgment, against her will, she consented.

"See to it, then, that no new thing comes up to disgrace us," she said,
stepping back to avoid the compelling touch of the hand that clutched at
her sleeve, still looking across despairingly at Aunt Susan.

All help had been taken from that quarter. Bewildered, torn between her
comprehension of mother love and a real knowledge of this particular case,
Susan Hornby fumbled with the hem of her apron and did not look up.

Elizabeth, alone and without support, was easily victimized.

"I'll go," she said briefly.

* * * * *

So the peaceful summer ended for Elizabeth Farnshaw with her promise to go
home. She hated to go, but the phr